We work with customers just like you
The UK's specialist recruitment partner for surface engineering and metal finishing. We find the people who build, run, improve and grow anodising lines, plating shops, coating operations and thermal processing plants.
Candidates who look right on paper but can't read a bath spec or hold a technical conversation with your process team.
Every week unfilled, your line runs below capacity. Generalist agencies take months to understand what you briefed on day one.
Wrong person in a process or leadership seat. Six months lost. Real money gone. Then you're hiring for the same role again.
We've watched good businesses lose months and real money on hires that didn't work. Process lines running below capacity. Quality issues that trace back to a single bad appointment. We get it because we operate in the sector ourselves.
We own and run surface finishing plants. We recruit with the eye of someone who's managed the line, not just read about it.
Chemistry, kit, standards, economics. Briefs are sharper. Screening is tighter. Shortlists are smaller and better.
Connected across the IMF and the Surface Engineering Association. UK-wide reach into every process lane.
"We needed someone who could walk onto our plating line and hold their own from day one. Surface Talent understood the brief before we'd finished explaining it. The shortlist was tight, technically screened, and we hired within three weeks."
"We'd been let down by generalist agencies sending candidates who couldn't tell an anodising line from a paint booth. Surface Talent knew exactly what we needed and the person they placed hit the ground running."
"Finding maintenance engineers who understand surface finishing plant is a nightmare. Surface Talent mapped the market properly and brought us three strong candidates inside a fortnight. The one we hired has been with us over a year now."
A proper technical brief. On-site where it helps. We learn what good looks like for this hire.
Market mapped. Shortlist approached personally. No job-board spray. No shared databases.
Screened technically and commercially. We stay close through offer, onboarding and the first 90 days.
Support to week 12. Rebate structure backs the shortlist. If it's not working, we want to know first.
We work with customers just like you
We recruit across the full breadth of UK surface engineering and metal finishing, plus the adjacent process industries that sit alongside it.
Rack, barrel, decorative and functional plating. Aerospace, defence, automotive, precision engineering.
Wet processSulphuric, chromic, hard and architectural. Chromate, phosphate and passivation for aluminium and multi-metal.
Aluminium and multi-metalArchitectural, industrial and high-performance coatings. Qualicoat, GSB and specialist contract finishers.
Organic finishingCase hardening, carburising, nitriding, vacuum and induction. Commercial and captive in-house facilities.
Thermal processingHVOF, plasma, arc, flame spray, PVD and CVD. Wear, corrosion and dimensional work for aerospace, energy and oil and gas.
Advanced coatingShot, grit and bead blasting, shot peening, and the chemical pre-treatment lines behind every coating process.
PreparationSix areas where surface engineering businesses win or lose. We recruit the people who run them.
MDs, GMs, ops and technical directors. Retained or contingent, handled with discretion.
Site managers, shift leads, production managers. The people who own throughput, yield, safety and cost.
Process engineers, chemists, metallurgists. Bath chemistry, cycle times, fixturing and process development.
Mechanical, electrical, PLC and automation. The people who keep plant running.
Quality leadership and technical authority. ISO 9001, NADCAP, AS9100, ISO 14001, ISO 45001.
Sales directors, BDMs, key account managers. Technical credibility with the customer. Close the order.
Retained or contingent. Permanent, contract or interim. Process floor to boardroom.
Start a searchConfidential. Every conversation with someone who knows the sector.
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